


Special Delivery

by Ink_Gypsy



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: AU, M/M, birthday fics, sean/elijah fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 09:31:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink_Gypsy/pseuds/Ink_Gypsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wood's Deli has the best food in town, but Sean goes there for another reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special Delivery

**Author's Note:**

> I wondered what would have happened if Elijah's family had never moved to California. I imagined Elijah working in his father's deli, and this is the result.
> 
> This Elijah birthday fic was written for the Celebrating Elwood event at Dreamwidth's Tol_Eressea community.
> 
> 06/21/15: I've made some changes to this fic, most notably lowering Elijah's age to nineteen. I think it works better for the story and hope you agree.

Wood’s Deli was always crowded. The combination of good food and reasonable prices had the small shop packed to capacity every day. Sean stopped in every morning to pick up breakfast: a bagel or a muffin, or on occasion, the breakfast special of a fried egg sandwich and coffee for the bargain price of $2.50. If he didn’t have a lunch meeting, he’d stop by every day at noon for a sub or one of the half-dozen hot meals they offered, and if he’d been working late, it wasn’t uncommon for him to pick up dinner on the way home.

Besides the food, the deli held another attraction for Sean: the owner’s son, Elijah, who worked behind the counter. Elijah was beautiful, with spiky dark hair and incredible blue eyes Sean could have stared into for hours. He was such a regular there that they knew him by name, but while Warren Wood’s usual greeting was a gruff “What’ll you have?” from Elijah there was always a big smile and a “Hi, Sean!” Sean liked to believe it was more than friendship he saw in those eyes, but he’d convinced himself it was wishful thinking on his part. He hadn’t tested the theory, basically because he was thirty-three and the deli owner’s son looked too young to be legal.

When he first saw him, Sean thought Elijah must still be in high school, but since he was at the deli morning, noon and night, Sean assumed he’d graduated and was working full-time in the family business. Maybe the family couldn’t afford college or Elijah had no interest in going. Maybe he was a high school dropout, which Sean hoped wasn't the case, but whatever the reason Elijah was here, he doubted the kid wanted to spend the rest of his life behind a deli counter, especially when his father treated him like slave labor.

Sean had the opportunity to discover first-hand that Wood’s gruffness wasn’t directed only at his customers. It extended to his son. While waiting for his order at lunchtime, Sean was standing close enough to hear a heated argument between father and son in the kitchen.

> “It’s just one night!” Elijah had implored.
> 
> “I need you here,” Wood had replied.
> 
> “Why?” Elijah had questioned. “Lunch is our busiest time.”
> 
> “I need you to make the dinner deliveries.”
> 
> “But it’s my birthday!” Elijah had pleaded. “Can’t I even have the night off on my fucking birthday?”
> 
> There had been the sound of a slap and an angry, “You don’t speak to me that way!” from Wood.

Sean had moved away, sorry he’d eavesdropped on the private conversation. He felt even worse when Elijah came back outside, and as soon as he met Sean’s gaze, his face flushed with embarrassment, as if he knew that Sean had overheard them. Sean had paid for his lunch without a word and quickly left the deli.

Walking back to his office, Sean couldn’t get the incident out of his mind. He’d always had a wonderful relationship with his own father, and it saddened him that Elijah’s relationship with _his_ father was so strained. Sean knew he shouldn’t get involved, but something Warren Wood said had given him a wonderful idea. Rather than going back to his office, he made a detour. Lunch could wait. He had something much more important he had to do first.

******

“There’s one more delivery,” Warren Wood told his son.

Elijah’s night was already shot, so what was one more delivery? “Who’s it for?” he asked, the question heaved out in a heavy sigh.

“Sean Astin,” the deli owner replied. “At his office. Must be working late.”

Elijah turned so his father wouldn’t see his smile. If he got to see Sean again, the night wouldn’t be a total loss. Seeing Sean at the deli was the highlight of his day, even though their conversations were limited to what he was ordering. Sean was older than he was, but that didn’t bother Elijah. One of his favorite fantasies was slipping a note inside the bag that held Sean’s order that told Sean how Elijah felt about him. Sean would read it and come to the deli to tell Elijah that he felt the same way. He hadn’t gathered the courage to do it yet because for all he knew, Sean was straight as an arrow, and if that was the case, Sean might be so turned off by Elijah’s interest that he’d stop coming to the deli. Elijah couldn’t imagine never seeing Sean again, so he kept his feelings to himself.

“Get going,” Wood urged Elijah, “or the food will be cold by the time he gets it.”

Elijah didn’t need any encouragement.

******

Because it was after hours, the front door of Sean’s office building was locked, but the night guard recognized Elijah and buzzed him in. “For Sean Astin,” Elijah said, holding up the bag.

The guard nodded and pointed to the elevator. “Third floor. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding him. Everyone else lit out at five on the dot.”

The idea of being alone with Sean in his office made Elijah’s stomach flutter. If nothing else happened tonight, at least he’d have more fodder for his Astin fantasies.

Sean’s office was at the end of the hall. The door was open and Elijah could see Sean at his desk, working on his computer. Since it was after hours, Sean had taken off his tie and undone the top two buttons of his shirt, allowing Elijah to see just a hint of chest hair, the same chestnut color as the hair on his head. Elijah knocked on the door jamb, and when Sean looked up and saw him, he smiled, causing deep eye crinkles. Elijah found those crinkles, along with Sean’s overbite, totally adorable. He smiled back.

“Come in, come in,” Sean invited, getting up and coming around his desk.

Elijah held up the plastic bag he carried. “The Chicken Parm was a great dinner choice. It’s really good today.”

Sean took the bag from him and confessed, “I actually didn’t want this.”

Elijah looked horrified. “Fuck!” he exclaimed. “Did my father screw up your order? I’m so sorry, Sean.”

Sean smiled, holding his hands up, palms outward. “No, Elijah, your dad got the order right. What I meant was, I didn’t really want to order dinner. It was just an excuse.”

Elijah’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. “An excuse? I don’t understand.”

What had seemed like a great idea this afternoon didn’t seem as much of one now that Elijah was here, but it was too late to turn back now so Sean decided to go for it. “Will you come with me, Elijah?” he asked. “This will be much easier to explain with visual effects.”

Elijah was still confused, but followed anyway. Though he never would have told him so, Elijah would have followed Sean anywhere, but he was surprised when Sean only took him down the length of the hallway and into what had to be the company break room. On one wall was a sink with a long counter on which stood a commercial size microwave and coffee maker, and on the opposite wall stood a large, side-by-side refrigerator. The walls were covered with motivational posters that the employees would be forced to look at from the dozen small round tables where they sat to eat their lunch or take a coffee break. As curious as he was as to why he’d been taken there, Elijah waited for Sean to explain.

“I felt bad that you had to work late on your birthday,” Sean began.

Which meant Sean _had_ heard him arguing with his father, Elijah realized, and that had him feeling even more embarrassed than he had at the deli. The last thing he wanted was the man he was interested in feeling sorry for him. Going to the counter, Elijah pretended to be extremely interested in the coffeemaker. He heard the refrigerator door open and close -- obviously Sean refrigerating the chicken parmigiana he hadn’t really wanted -- and continued to inspect the coffeemaker.

“Elijah?”

At the sound of his name, Elijah turned around. “Look, Sean—“ he began, but stopped short, totally lost for words.

In the middle of one of the small round tables was a birthday cake, complete with different color birthday candles. “I hope you like vanilla butter cream with strawberry filling,” Sean said as he lit the last of the candles. “The bakery didn’t have a big selection to choose from.”

“You got me a birthday cake?” Elijah asked, incredulous. He moved closer to the table and looked down at the cake. Written across the white frosting in blue icing were the words _Happy Birthday, Elijah!_

Sean shrugged. “It didn’t sound like you’d be doing much celebrating so…”

Elijah swallowed the lump in his throat. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” Sean told him. “Just make a wish and blow out the candles.”

Elijah closed his eyes, then leaned down and blew out the candles. When Sean didn’t say anything, Elijah asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me what I wished for?”

Sean shook his head. “If you tell me then it won’t come true.”

Elijah smiled. “Actually, Sean,” he said, “whether it comes true or not depends on you.”

Now it was Sean’s turn to look puzzled. “On me? How?” Rather than answer, Elijah walked around the table until he was standing in front of Sean. Then he leaned in to kiss him. “Whoa!” Sean exclaimed, pulling back.

Elijah’s heart sank. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, wishing the earth would open up and swallow him whole. “I’ve wanted to do that for months, and while I didn’t know how you felt, I hoped you’d want it, too.”

“I do,” Sean told him.

“Then why did you stop me?”

“Because I need to ask you something first.”

“What?” Elijah demanded in frustration.

“What birthday is this for you?” Sean asked him, praying Elijah wouldn’t say he wasn't yet eighteen. “I mean, how old are you today?”

“I’m nineteen,” Elijah replied. He couldn't tell by Sean's expression whether that was good or bad news, and fearing the latter, he pleaded, "Please don't tell me I'm too young for you."

_Thankfully not **that** young_ , Sean thought with a combination of pleasure and relief. “No, I don't think you're too young for me," he said. "In fact, I'd say you're just the right age." Pulling Elijah into his arms, Sean gave him a long, deep kiss. “Happy Birthday, Elijah.”

They ended up sharing the chicken parmigiana, and eating birthday cake for dessert. Elijah considered it the best birthday he'd ever had.


End file.
